Food fight not fun for kids with allergies

October 22, 7:09 PMParenting ExaminerTerreece Clarke

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Food is a scary thing for more children these days as the number of children with food allergies has risen 18% according to the Centers of Disease Control.

In a report released today, in 2007 3 million children in the U.S. have food allergies and the surprising statistic is that 90% of the offending foods come from 8 food groups: milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy, and wheat.

Other Highlights from the Report:

 

- Boys and girls had similar rates of food allergy -- 3.8 percent for
boys and 4.1 percent for girls.
-- Approximately 4.7 percent of children younger than 5 years had a
reported food allergy compared to 3.7 percent of children and teens
aged 5 to 17 years.
-- Hispanic children had lower rates of reported food allergy (3.1
percent) than non-Hispanic white (4.1 percent) or non-Hispanic black
children (4 percent.)
-- In 2007, 29 percent of children with food allergy also had reported
asthma compared to 12 percent of children without food allergy.
-- Approximately 27 percent of children with food allergy had reported
eczema or skin allergy, compared to 8 percent of children without food
allergy.
-- Over 30 percent of children with food allergy also had reported
respiratory allergy, compared with 9 percent of children with no food
allergy.
-- From 2004 to 2006, there were approximately 9,537 hospital discharges
per year with a diagnosis related to food allergy among children from
birth to 17 years. Hospital discharges with a diagnosis related to
food allergy increased significantly over time between 1998-2000
through 2004-2006.

 

Food Allergy Support Groups:

Allergy Support.Org

Kids with Food Allergies.Org

FACTSplace.Com - Food Allergies: Coping, Teaching, Supporting

Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.Org